OOPS

Melissa left for the airport around 9:30 last night with Adam. Alex, Alan, and Vishnu all left as well. I got some things figured out with the packing, arranging, and final itinerary items decided, and just sorta chilled out with Devin and Emmett. As fun as it would have been to go do something with the guys, I really needed to focus on having everything ready to leave in the morning.

I heard Adam and Devin up with the baby early, but stayed in bed until probably 7:30am. Much later than I've been rising. It felt good to get some extra rest, but I also convinced myself everything would still be moving relatively fast.  WRONG!  It wasn't until at least 8:30 that anyone else got up. Granted I had some kid-free time to shower and get the last things ready, but this was just the beginning of a slow day that I continually felt I was rushing from behind.

We had a great breakfast of bacon and berry pancakes, and we hit the road maybe 9:30 or 10. Well it was probably a 40 minute drive to the ferry, as well as stopping at a grocery to stock up on supplies.  We were looking to make it to the 11:50 ferry, but OOPS - my directions had me trying to skip the ferry line, which I was promptly made aware of by some douche screaming at me from the sidewalk (give me a break, I'm not TRYING to cut in line) and once I made it to the back of the line, there was no way.  With no good way around, we ended up waiting for almost an hour in the car for the 12:40 ferry.  Took this opportunity to use the bathroom, finish putting our groceries away, and listen to some music.

Once off the ferry it was still a drive to get to Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center.  Just down the mountain from the visitor center is Heart O' the Hills Campground. We attempted to find a FCFS site, but OOPS - I have no cash for the self service envelope. 

We headed up the mountain for another 20 minutes to the Visitor Center, got some Junior Ranger books, and looked around. We attended a ranger chat about the non-native mountain goats living in the Olympic Mountains and the park service's efforts to remove them. I tried to find an ATM to get the cash for the campsite, but OOPS- they don't have ATM's up here, I need to go back down into town.  I guess I shouldn't have assumed there would be one in the Visitor Center.  We got the booklets done right at 5:30 when they were closing the building, swore the kids in once again, and collected the badges.  We wanted to get back down and get a site so we could have dinner and a campfire, so we drove all the way back to Port Angeles, found a bank, and headed back up the mountain. Well, halfway up.

Baby deer we saw on the way up to Hurricane Ridge, Katy loved that deer

I wasn't too worried about getting a site, since there were so many available at 3. Well it did get a little more crowded by 6:15, but there were plenty to choose from. Or so we thought.  Sleeping in a van, you kind of need a flat parking area so you aren't rolling into anyone or falling off the bench seats. OOPS.  We ended up finding site #8 available, flat enough parking space and a really cool backdrop full of boulders and huge trees (fallen and standing). We collected a bunch of dead wood, I started a fire, and we made some hotdogs on the grilltop attached to the fire ring.

The kids fooled around pretending to be goats (again), we ate some doritos and some marshmallows. Plenty of trips to the bathroom (not all too close). And here I am trying to keep current with the blog while the kids fall asleep in the van. 

It's a cold night, but it was a great day.